Agenda item

Gravesham CSP Community Safety Strategy 2024-28

Minutes:

The Committee were provided with a report that outlined a new four-year Community Safety

Strategy for Gravesham’s Community Safety Partnership (CSP).

 

In its completion, account had been taken of both the findings of the Strategic Assessment 2023 and the responses received from local people to a Community Safety Public Consultation held between mid- October and mid-December 2023. In addition to those findings, certain other considerations were taken into account to help identify those areas of work that now form the priorities contained in this new Community Safety Strategy. Those areas were raised at 1.3 and 1.4 of the report.

 

The Strategic Manager (CSU) directed members to appendix one and gave a brief overview of the Strategy.

 

The new priorities for the Gravesham CSP Community Safety Strategy 2024-28 were as follows:

 

  1. Tackling ASB

 

  1. Reducing Violence (including Serious Violence, Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG))

 

  1. Preventing and Reducing Offending

 

  1. Tackling Hate Crime, Guarding Against Extremism and Strengthening Community Cohesion

 

  1. Improving Public Confidence and Trust

 

The rationale for the selection of each of those priorities was detailed in the Strategy together with information that described what the Partnership’s focus would be, what it hoped to achieve, how it would monitor progress and how it would be accountable.

 

The Committee raised concern that Gravesham had shown an increase in 11.4% in Police recorded ASB incidents this year; the Strategic Manager (CSU) recognised Members concerns that incidents in Gravesham had risen but she advised that the increase should not necessarily be interpreted as negative. There were a number of reasons for the increase:

 

·         Considerable efforts have been made locally during the year to raise awareness including promoting the ASB review

·         Reporting of ASB had been widely encouraged

·         The reporting processes and information on the website had been simplified

·         Successful action had been taken against offenders such as £20K fines to fly tippers which was well-publicised in the media; the Councils Environmental Enfacement Team was one of the most successful in the County and demonstrated to the public that reporting fly-tipping was worthwhile 

·         A message of zero tolerance to ASB had been heavily promoted

·         The team had a community engagement calendar and events were held locally every week, encouraging people to report ASB and explaining to them what types of ASB should be reported to the Council and what types to the Police

 

A number of concerns were raised by Cllr Meade who would not support the Strategy in its current form:

 

·         There was a major issue in Gravesend with retail crime, abuse of shop workers and shoplifting but those areas were not mentioned in the report

·         There was no mention of the nighttime economy and the impact the crime had on the public perception of the town at night 

·         The full details of the consultation should have been released with the report or summarised within the report in order for the Committee to properly comment on the proposed Strategy

·         There was no mention of GSAFE, and the Gravesham School of Street Pastors in the State and the Council had service Level Agreements with both of those organisations

 

In response to the concerns raised, the Strategic Manager (CSU) explained that:

 

·         The Strategy was not a Gravesham Council Strategy; it was a Strategy created by the Gravesham Community Safety Partnership. All of the statutory partners of that partnership had viewed/commented on the Strategy and agreed to it including Cllr Mochrie-Cox who was the Chair of Gravesham Community Safety Partnership

·         A thorough Strategic Assessment was concluded and following that a public consultation, which was an opportunity for everyone to comment on the proposed Strategy and outline what were most important things to be included, was run from October 2023 to December 2023

·         The Strategy covered four years, 2024-29, and would be reviewed on an annual basis as well as discussed during quarterly meetings which would give Members time to comment on any concerns or seek amendments

·         During the last performance report that was submitted to the partnership on 17 October 2024; the issue of shoplifting was flagged for discussion and a plan was being formulated with all partners to address retail crime. The Strategic Manager (CSU) agreed to share the performance report with Cllr Meade outside of the meeting

 

Members noted the Strategy.

 

 

 

Supporting documents: